Mercedes-Benz Classic Offers Body Parts for the Gullwing

Factory quality bits for your baby

Owning a dream car like a Gullwing isn't easy. Aside from it being an expensive hobby and passion, finding replacement parts for such a rare car can be downright impossible.

For instance, between 1954 and 1957 only 1,400 Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Gullwing cars were built. The 300 SL, a designation that stands for Sportlich Leicht (Sport Lightweight), was based on the W196 race car and used a strong, lightweight space frame design. Given the model's rarity, the chances of finding replacement metal body parts for a Gullwing used to be challenge—until now.

Mercedes-Benz Classic is now offering key reproduction body parts for the 300 SL in factory quality. The most expensive parts to replace are the rear panels, which sell for approximately $17,816.50 each. The cheapest is replacing the rear end center section for about $3,563—plus paint and labor.

Mercedes-Benz Classic says it developed the process in cooperation with a certified supplier using optimized 3D data from original bodies.

Once they are made, the parts are finished the old-fashioned way—by hand using wooden mallets, of course.

"The result of this symbiosis between state-of-the-art production technology and traditional craftsmanship is a high accuracy of fit that minimizes the need for subsequent work on the vehicle," states Mercedes-Benz Classic's press release.

Stuttgart brass says the replacement parts can now be ordered by their part numbers from any Mercedes-Benz sales partner in Europe, though there's no word on when—or if—they will available in the U.S.